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Borrowed Advice for the Spiritual Journey

 

            I am a sucker for lists, as I have before confessed.  Lists make things seem simple.  I want to say that lists inspire me, but they may be more illusion.  But I am not ready to give up.  Especially if the lists come from someone I consider an expert, then I am sure the lists must be offering gems of wisdom.  The problem with lists, however, is the sheer number.  If there are more than a couple items on the list, the likelihood of me doing any one of them goes down dramatically.  It makes me remember my folks telling me at a mealtime that my “eyes were bigger than my stomach.”  I was so hungry, I was sure I could eat it all.  I never did!  When it comes to lists, I fear my “eyes are bigger than my willingness.”

            And so it was when I recently spied a list, as I trolled through Twitter.  It was a list being offered by Daniel Pink.  I have read a fair amount of Pink’s work and find it always to be insightful and inspiring.  In this case it was not his list, but he was pushing it, so I figured it had to be good.  The list was by a guy name Kevin Kelly, whom I did not know.  Kelly has keep a list of maxims he has come to recognize as truths for life.  He has now turned 70 and wanted to share these.  The good news---or bad news---is the list has 103 items!  They are not spiritual things, but more life wisdom for life.  Being a sucker for lists, I read through all 103!

            I would like to pick off a couple or three that I consider good advice for the spiritual journey.  These tidbits of advice are the kinds of things to offer someone who might ask about how to begin a spiritual journey or to get back with the journey if they feel like they became sidetracked.  One of my favorites came early in the list.  This piece of advice says, “Anything you say before the word ‘but’ does not count.”  Instantaneously, this resonated with me.  How many times have I waited for the speaker to get to the “but” in the sentence.  I think Kelly is correct.  Whatever comes before “but” should be discounted.

            I think about something as simple as prayer.  It is not unusual that someone who is beginning a spiritual journey really knows nothing about prayer.  After all, where in our culture is someone supposed to learn about prayer?  Of course, if we happen to go to a particular church, we have seen one kind of prayer.  If it is a Catholic Church, the priest is normally the one doing the praying.  Early in my career, I had the good fortune of teaching in a seminary.  During a time of innovation, we decided to begin teaching spirituality classes.  This was before any non-Catholic place did “spirituality.”  And so, we decided the first class we would teach was a class on prayer.

            This sounds simple, right?  Not surprisingly, not one of the faculty had ever had a class on prayer, nor could any one of us recall ever being taught how to pray.  Typically, we learn it by imitation.  We do it the way we see others do it.  We mimic them.  Even the words we say are like the words they say.  This is not bad nor wrong.  But I am not sure it is adequate either.  I share this example, because when I asked someone how they learned to pray, they would say something like, “praying is addressing petitions to God, but I am not sure about other ways.”  If we take Kelly’s advice, the person is actually saying, “I have no clue!”

            A second piece of advice Kelly offers is clearly not intended by him to be spiritual.  He says, “There is no such thing as being ‘on time.’  You are either late or you are early.  Your choice.”  I suspect I am attracted to this one because I have always been the kind of person who was early.  I knew I was early, but I wanted to be able to say that I was “on time.”  Kelly helps me see it is actually good simply to be early.  I did it.  I arrived.  I am ready to participate.  And that is where it becomes spiritual for me.

            No doubt many folks intend to begin a spiritual journey.  I hear comments such as, “I would like to begin my spiritual search, but….”  This only means they are not going to do it.  Maybe they will later, but not yet.  Trying to talk them into it or guilting them into beginning usually does not go well.  It can only lead to resentment, rebellion or something like that.  This is where Kelly’s advice comes in handy.  It is their choice.  Let it be their choice.

            Beginning a spiritual journey is like being on time.  There is no such thing.  You just start…or you don’t.  You start praying or meditating or reading---anything.  Beginning a spiritual journey sounds amazing, big-time, and pretty daunting.  It sounds like getting experiences that make you special and all that.  A spiritual journey may be all that.  More often than not, however, the spiritual journey is simply being disciplined in practices that are likely to give you a sense of belonging to the God of the universe and mattering in the big picture of a vast cosmos.  Practicing the disciplines is like arriving early.  You are there.  You are participating.  You are in the game.    These are not spectacular, mind-altering experiences.  They are basic.  They are necessary.  They ultimately are life-giving.

            Kelly has 101 more bits of advice.  I found them fun to read and many can be helpful.  Others might well be spiritual, if I were to give them more thought.  But I have a couple here.  If I can implement them into my life, I have done well.  I will be early and participate.  I will let it be what it is---no “buts….”  And it will turn out ok. 

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